Skoda Rally Blog

Is it a monster? No, it’s Wales Rally GB. And there are changes afoot:

First up, a new engine. Last summer I bought an ex-works engine from Tony Simpson that needed rebuilding, but getting pistons took too long. This year, I have a reasonable amount of time to do it in, so the pistons have been machined to suit the cam/engine setup, and the rest of the build is progressing slowly but surely; annoyingly no-one does pattern engine bearings for the 136 engine so I’ve had to order them from Skoda! I already have most of the bits I need to build it, and then it should just be a case of get it mapped properly and it will be spot on… simple, eh?

Secondly, I’m still trying to get my near-mythical close-ratio gearbox from Chris Bennett – this has been over 18 months coming, and was a source of much wailing and gnashing of teeth last October when it turned up and didn’t work. However, I’m not banking on that happening – I’m going to fit a standard box with no LSD to get the new engine up and running and see what turns up….

Thirdly, things that are the same – we’ve managed to rent the same house as last year, so that will make things very pleasant, and we should also have the same van. I’ve promised the trailer that I’ll rebuild it, so hopefully it should be a little less shonky than last year (although it does the job perfectly well, it does look like it should have a bangered Mk4 Cortina on it, not a rally car!).

So, hopefully this year’s preparation will be less fraught than last year’s, the car should be fast and reliable, and it should be fun. Although the homologation doesn’t run out until 2010, the FIA in their infinite wisdom have said that HANS devices have to be worn by all competitors in International events as of 2009, and that would mean a minimum of ?1500 spent between me and Paul (?500 per “sport” HANS, ?250 per helmet), and possibly new seats as well. Unless I win the lottery this seems unlikely. Which is annoying.